Wednesday, August 27, 2003

If You're Not Now, You Never WereAlright, I left the Smalltalk world professionally 4 years ago and since then, I've called myself an "ex-Smalltalker". I realized this morning that I've never been an "ex-Smalltalker" though. Now, would I say this? I mean, I get paid for the Java and JavaScript that I write, but when I go home at night what do I fire up to let my imagination run wild? You guessed it, SMALLTALK. Hell, I even called my latest incarnation of my music project, Alto Dorado after the first two machines to run Smalltalk. I've never left the community keeping a close eye. So, why did I leave Smalltalk professionally? Well, you can guess. I thought companies were running away from it and toward Java. I didn't want to be a dinosaur at such an early age. So, I did what I thought was the right thing even though I knew Java was an inferior language. I look back at that decision now and regret it. I've never considered myself a Java developer. I just never felt the pride to label myself as such. I feel proud to call myself a Smalltalker. So, in short, I no longer refer to myself as an "ex". I use Smalltalk in all of my side projects and hopefully soon I will be again using it full time. I can dream can't I? I envy all of you who use it on a daily basis at work. I tend to sneak it in via scripting here and there at work. But, most of the Smalltalking is done on the weekends and when I get home. I don't know why I wrote this blog entry per se, I have just recently come to the conclusion that I am and will always be a Smalltalker until I find something better. I've tried many languages and nothing gives wonderment like Smalltalk except maybe Lisp (but, even it doesn't come close). I'll end this entry with "Go Smalltalk!"